For Debbie Fortier and Jeannine Pepin, the best part about Girl Guiding has been the friendships they've made in the last 45 and 22 years respectively.
The two were at Bell Park, and joined more than 800 girls and women from across northereastern Ontario in the drizzle and rain to celebrate 100 years of Girl Guides in Canada.
The two women are part of the Trefoil Guild, a group of women who remain involved in the Girl Guides organization but aren't necessarily part of a unit, though Fortier is involved with the New Sudbury Pathfinders. The Trefoil Guild allows them to remain involved in the values important to Girl Guides, such as volunteer and community service, they explained.
They, like the girls around them, weren't going to let the rain stop them from enjoying the birthday celebrations.
As the drizzle turned into a brief downpour, girls and women reached into backpacks and pulled out rain ponchos, and continued to cheer and wave their special 100 birthday pompoms.
The event opened with an opening ceremony and a declaration of May 15 as Girl Guide Day by Greater Sudbury Mayor John Rodriguez. Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci also presented the girls with a special reward. Both received a box of girl guide cookies from Sparks and Brownies.
Throughout the day, girls will be able to see uniforms from the past 100 years, do arts and crafts, play various games, have videos taken of them shouting Happy Birthday to help make a video collage from the other celebrations happening across Canada, and more.
After 45 years in guiding, Fortier has no intention of quitting, she said. There are too many rewards for taking part.
"Having the girls come back and talk to you about much of a difference you've made in their lives (is) a reward in itself," she said.
About Girl Guides of Canada
Girl Guides began in 1909 when girls in England wanted to join a Boy Scouts rally at the Crystal Palace in London. Impressed by the girl's drive, Lord Baden-Powell, the organizer of Boy Scouts, asked his sister Agnes to create a Girl Scouts movement.
The movement arrived in Canada, and the first Girl Guide unit was formed in St. Catharines in 1910. The organization was recognized and incorporated by the Canadian Parliament in 1917. During both the First and Second World Wars, girl guides helped save materials for the war effort, made dressings, learned nursing skills, and worked as messengers. The organization was extended to service bases following the Second World War to help girls who were overseas prepare to reintegrate into Canadian society.
Girl Guides have even travelled out of this world, with Dr. Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian woman astronaut and former girl guide, taking girl guide cookies into space.
Girls between 5-17 years of age can become part of the various girl guide branches. Five and six year old girls can join Sparks, who dress in bright pink, and girls between seven and eight years can join Brownies, who dress in blue and orange.
Guides is open to girls between nine and 11 years, and dress in blue, and Pathfinders are girls between 12 and 14, and wear green. Girls 15 to 17 can join Rangers, and adults can join in as leaders, mentors, team members and more.
For more information, visit www.girlguides.ca.
